10/03/2026
Im a bit late for Women's day! But here's a throwback to this drawing I did of a determined, young Irish girl for the cover of this wonderful book by Jill Marshall called Glossop Girl 💗
International Women's Day today - a day to acknowledge the social, political, economic and cultural achievements of women and to advance gender equality. Also, for me, a day to celebrate the personal journeys of the many 'international women' I know first-hand, and to pause to say how proud and grateful we are for all they've done and are doing and will continue to strive for.
🔸 I'm proud and honoured to have worked with many, many astonishing women from all over the world working towards a better future - in public governance, in anti-corruption drives, in gender equality initiatives, in ecological and environmental support, and in leadership roles that challenge outdated standards on a daily or hourly basis. Can't begin to name them all, but every single one is an inspiration.
🔸 I'm proud to be from Manchester, where the Pankhursts and other courageous women sparked the triumphant and arduous trail of women's suffrage in Britain. To live in NZ, the first country in the world to give women the vote. To have been in the first wave of women, only six years in, permitted to attend my college at Cambridge University. To have worked for amazing women who repeatedly promoted a single mother into bigger roles and careers. To have seen what these women can do and have done, against all odds. I'm so very grateful for those who came before us to drive political and institutional change.
🔸 Super, ferociously proud of my friends and family and loved ones who've battled privately and publicly to do the right thing, to stand up for what matters, to earn what they should earn and lead where they should lead, all while juggling children and families and sandwich generation responsibilities in ways their forebears could never have imagined.
🔸 Very proud to call myself a Glossop Girl (albeit in a very small way). Glossop, a gritty yet beautiful mill town where the Pankhursts gathered crowds in the streets; where millworkers went on strike and into starvation to support the slaves in America providing the cotton for the mills; where women committed to social change in small ways and large and are honoured to this day.
🔸 Grateful to the international collaboration of women (and one wonderful man! Thank you, Simon Jessop🧡) in creating the cover for Glossop Girl the book - South African artist Carla Sclanders, Australian designer Katie Gannon, and an English inspiration (my grandmother, who lived through some of the more horrible aspects of the tale). The colours are those of women's suffrage. The brooch at Lena's collar is a suffragette brooch. She looks to the future with determination. It's all deliberately baked in, thanks to these wonderful people.
There's so much more to do and to say and to strive for. We can all see that. But on this special day, I honour all those on this journey, past, present and future. 🙏
And a thank you to anyone who might find some inspiration in it: Glossop Girl Kindle is free during this week. 🧡
https://lnkd.in/eCEnHBjC
